St. Landry democrat., 1887-11-12

speech at kpachi on the 2Sth uli., sale
that " if the prrSrut administration hat
only It's own debts to pay the treasury
would be over t1oWing.' VIII Governor
MrrurIY explain, then, why, with the
! power to veto specific items Of appro.
rIiHtlou bills, he permitted Appropria-
tionS to exceed the revenues in 1854
1850, 1856 and 1857?
In the It'd. of this day state war
rants of those years are thus quoted:
State warrants Of 1854 - =.
State warrants Of 1885. 30 &C
. State warrants OF 1856. 30 g
State warrants of 1897 -..... Sc -.
THESE warrants represent the current
! expenses and debts Of the McEnery adj
ADMINISTRATION from 1881 to 1887.
Where IL the OveiilOWing treasury
. Governor McE.ncry knows that by his
! own failure 10 obey the constitution
he permitted appropriations to exceed
! the revenues OF those years, that the
! treasury has not a dollar now and none
in prospect to pay n single one of these
warrants: and that thus he added, by
! this paIpahle neglect of his duly, hun
. dIcdS Of thousands of dollars to the
! lIoAting debt of the State.
Why did he not tell the people Of De
! Soto these facts
Again. In talking about the debt of
past administrations Governor NcEn-
tly's alIu>iUn was to what is known as
baby bonds, as these form a great part
Of that debt, These bonds were the
conversion Of old State warrants, and
are quoted in the It'd. at u to IS per
cent. They were to be provided for, in
interest and capital, from the coIec-
lions Of back taxes due prior to 1879.
Governor \IcEnerv took at one time
other moneys of the State to paw the in
trrc>t on these baby bonds, which he
had 10 right to do, and some time ago
the State made default on the baby
bond interest.
Now why did Governor NcEncry not
tell in his keachi speech how his tax
collectors had bounded down the pcO-
pie for their back taxes, compelling all
who had lost their recr1pts for taxes
paid III 1871, 1S,2, 1873, 1874 and even MP
to 1879, to pay their taxes second time,
and how the expenses of his tax collcc-
tors, his official journals and his official
vntalieS had not only levied double and
triple taxation upon the already over
ouIdrncd citizens of the State, bnt had
consumed vast amounts of the money
that ought to have been paid to the
holders of baby bonds ?
In his message of 1886 Governor Nc
Emery declared that it had cost the
State $4,000 to collect SG5.000. Twen-
~ Thousand dollars to the State treasury,
and $4,000 To the ring Of collectors, no.
tHrIr$, official Journals. etc
W ny dld he not send to the people
the act No. 81 of 1854, approved by 5.
-. MrEncry Governor, on the 81 of Jul
", 1854, III which the Daily States news
paper was given 900 for publishing
the tax collectors notices of the tax
siIcS' Why did lie not read the act
-. approved by him, on the same day.
making similar appropriation of
$4,000 tor the same purpose to anoth-
CT newspaper: Governor McEnery we'll
knows that he has permitted the peO-
pie. money, that ought to have been
devoted to paying the just debts of the
state, To lee thus diverted and miSap-
prnDl rated, and Yet, to hear his hon
eyed words OF praise of his own official
acts, tile people would imagine that he
has been very "bul(-dOG Of the treaSu-
ry.'
NO State has worse public credit to-
to-day than louisiana, add this dis
graceful condition is due to Governor
NcLneTy'S failure to do his duty as Gov
ernOr more than to all other causes put
together.
Again. In that speech, which, it would
seem, was made not to enlighten the
people, but to miSIead and delude them |
Governor McEnery asserted that Gene |
raj Nichols friends charge that he
(McEncryl put in force the ncfariOuS
debit amcndmeEt,n and he spoke of Gen. |
Ogden and General Nichols as favor |
ing that debt amendment. Now, Gov |
ernor McEnely knows that General |
NICHOLS and his canvasSers have inva- |
riaby declared that they accept the |
debt amendment as settled. and that |
their criticism against the McEnery adj |
has been that, by fraudu- |
lent election leturns-return of votes |
which were never Cast--his administra-
ton proclaimed as ratified 10y the peo-
pie debt amendment which was voted |
down by the people.
Governor Nichols and General Og-
len both favored that amendment, but
the question the people want Governor
SlcEnely to answer Is, why votes that
were ''Wrltten" against that amend
nent all over the State were not count
ed, and why bogus tally sheets that
were manufactured after the election,
BASED as votes that were never cast,
md as elections that were never held,
tn Il nd